A summary of the October posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter.
October found us roaming from the banks of the Potomac to the island harbors of the Aegean Sea. We sent postcards to voters in Georgia and stood in line to vote on the first day possible in Maryland. I listened to the comforting grooves of two blues cats in Takoma Park and read books that took me out of my comfort zone.
It was—to put it mildly—a busy few weeks. Let’s jump in and see what caught my eye or tickled my fancy this month in MORE TO COME.
TOP READER FAVORITES
Two posts topped the list of reader favorites in October. They couldn’t be more different.
- Creating ethical, resilient, and thriving communities is the latest of my conversations with authors of recently published books. Sara Bronin’s Key to the City examines how zoning can help create delightful and meaningful places in which to live. I was delighted when Sara agreed to chat with me about her new book, and apparently my readers were as well, as this post topped the list of favorites in October.
- I also had a number of readers turn to my appreciation for Kris Kristofferson, who passed away in October. The gold standard of being a dude: Kris Kristofferson, R.I.P. featured my thoughts on this modern-day Renaissance man. Thanks to internet search engines hundreds of new readers also found a post from several years ago that featured Here Comes That Rainbow Again, a song that Kris joked he wrote with John Steinbeck . . . “only he was dead at the time.” Together they made for quite the MTC celebration of Kristofferson’s life and work.
DEMOCRACY DIES . . . WHEN OLIGARCHS RUN AMOK
October was not a good month for those who say that the elite among us should rule without regard for the will of the people. *
The Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since late 2022. This is a big deal since Musk has billion-dollar contracts with the U.S. government and holds security clearances.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos (regular readers know of my disdain for what he’s done to America) “obeyed the authoritarian in advance” and refused to let the paper endorse Kamala Harris for president. Besides making a mockery of the Post‘s “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan, Bezos has created a firestorm. Similarly, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times killed that paper’s planned endorsement of Harris while Rupert Murdoch continues to destroy American values at FOX with daily doses of disinformation.
- Media fails are nothing new in American history, and I tackled this problem in Finding better ways to talk to the American people. I use the work of historians to point to what other generations have done when facing similar challenges.
- Of course, the media won’t decide this election. We will. If you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain is my take on what we all have to do.
- And in Rejoice in possibilities, I turned to Rebecca Solnit for a reminder of how to deal with anxiety in these times.
EXPLORING THE GREEK ISLES
My most recent turn as a lecturer for National Trust Tours took us to Greece and Turkey. It was a trip to savor.
- Heavenly columns, historic Türkiye, and the Greek Isles is a bit of a deep dive into our visits to the Meteora monasteries, Ephesus, Rhodes, and Patmos. I followed that up the next day with a picture-heavy post entitled The wonder of blue harbors, steep cliffs, ancient windmills, and tiny chapels.
- Before leaving for our trip, I read Edith Hamilton’s The Greek Way. Hamilton engaged the reading public with unfeigned enthusiasm and devotion, “with which she told and retold the story of her love for her own imagined, idealized version of antiquity.” Storytelling, context, and the glory of ancient Greece is a reminder that both storytelling and context are so very important in understanding history.
BOOKS, BLUES, AND BASEBALL
The other posts this month tended to be focused on books I read, music I enjoyed, and baseball I watched. I’d say that’s a good life!
Let’s begin with the books.
- Perceptions and perspectives examines Ned Blackhawk’s groundbreaking book—The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History—to reimagine our history “outside the tropes of discovery.”
- Alice Feiring’s self-described love letter to wine and a lifelong coming of age story is reviewed in Where history, science, and civilization meet.
- An ingenious whodunit within a whodunit looks at Anthony Horowitz’s tale of intrigue involving an editor, her crime-writing author, and his detective, Atticus Pünd.
- Then there is the ever popular From the bookshelf: September 2024
In addition to the Kris Kristofferson music I featured in my appreciation, I also included these Saturday Soundtracks in October:
- The Takoma Park Street Festival included an acoustic blues duo this year. Nothing could be finer.
- Check out The Musical Box encourages readers to discover someone who writes about music . . . and knows what he’s talking about!
Then the music and baseball meshed.
- Baseball joy and sadness is my pre-World Series column with remembrances of Fernandomania and some top-flight baseball songs.
- Observations from . . . the land of postseason baseball came earlier in the month. Yogi Berra is one of the people who gets attribution for the quote, “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”
FEATURED COMMENTS
Brilliant reader Nick Kalogeresis—a former colleague and long-time MORE TO COME reader who writes at The Places of Sense Chronicles—made the following comment about my Q&A with Sara Bronin:
David—you get to interview interesting folks. This was a wonderful discussion and I look forward to reading Sara’s new book.
Nick is right. I started featuring conversations with writers early last year, and the October 1st interview with Sara is the 12th in the series. I highlight them near the top of the home page as Author Q&A’s: Conversations with writers, and the topics, in typical MTC fashion, are wide-ranging. Click on the link and check them out!
CONCLUSION
Thanks, as always, for reading. Your support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.
As you travel life’s highways be open to love; thirst for wonder; undertake some mindful, transformative walking every day. Recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.
When times get rough, let your memories wander back to some wonderful place with remembrances of family and friends. But don’t be too hard on yourself if a few of the facts slip. Just get the poetry right.
Remember that “we are here to keep watch, not to keep.” Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. And bash into some joy along the way.
Finally, try to be nice. Always be kind.
More to come . . .
DJB
*For those who are interested, Brian Klaas has a great essay on why so many billionaires—who are too often mediocre, overconfident men—are convinced that they are God’s gift to everything they touch. I recommend it.
For the September 2024 summary, click here.
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Photo: Monastery at Meteora in Greece by Getty Images via Unsplash.
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